1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of digital media handling, and, more particularly, to file error identification, reporting, and replacement of problematic media files.
2. Description of the Related Art
On-demand media services are becoming popular as a result of inexpensive portable media devices such as portable MP3 players, portable video players, and even mobile phones with multimedia capabilities. Many of these media services deliver media files to subscribers, sometimes for a fee. To garner the most market share, media services often offer digitally encoded files for several different portable media devices, each with its own device specific encoding, digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, fidelity, and the like. When the provider supplies the media files for different devices, transmission problems can occur, which result in a delivery of a corrupt media file. In addition, media files can be delivered in a format, which the receiving media device is unable to play due to incompatible encoding schemes, DRM key and/or codec revocations, and/or DRM restrictions.
As an example of DRM key and/or codec revocations, REALNETWORKS will revoke keys or encoding types when there is evidence that either has been compromised. The media players connect to a centralized media source occasionally to obtain a list of revoked codecs. The player may only detect that parts of the media are not playing.
In these situations, the user often must detect a problem, delete the problematic file, and replace this file with a different copy provided by a content source, which is compatible with the media player. This can prove to be cumbersome for users who maintain a large collection of music. One further frustration can occur when a content source charges a recipient for a new file, which replaces the problematic file. This can aggravate a customer to an extent that he/she may choose to use an alternative service in the future. Additionally, the source media file itself may be corrupted, which causes the replacement file to have the same inherent problems as the original file.
To illustrate using one specific example, many subscription services exist (e.g., RHAPSODY) that permit unlimited music consumption for a period of time based upon subscription details. Presently, no convenient and/or efficient mechanisms exist for users of the subscription services to report problematic or corrupt content. For example, many subscription services permit email based reporting of corrupt files. These emails are manually processed/handled, which results in days or weeks of delay before content reported as corrupt is fixed. Knowing this latency, users are discouraged from reporting errors since an expected response time is often too late to satisfy their relatively immediate desires for music.